Mary Beckerle

Mary Beckerle PhD is an American cell biologist who studies cancer at the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah Medical School. At Huntsman Cancer Institute, she serves as the CEO and Director, and also as Associate Vice President for Cancer Affairs at the University of Utah. Beckerle’s research helped to define a novel molecular pathway for cell motility, and more recently, she has begun research into Ewing’s sarcoma, a pediatric bone cancer. Beckerle’s lab has already made a ground breaking discover in regards to Ewing’s Sarcoma in relation to the EWS/FLI protein. Her lab discovered EWS/FLI to disrupt the internal cellular skeleton, which decreases the ability of cells to adhere to their proper environment. This can help explain the metastasis of tumors in patients suffering from Ewing’s sarcoma.

Mary Catherine Beckerle was born in Rivers Edge, New Jersey to Martin and Mickey Beckerle. She is the oldest of three daughters, with sisters Bobby and Jeanne. Her father worked at the New York Telephone Co. and died suddenly at the age of 36 of emphysema. Mary was twelve at the time. Her mother, a registered nurse, worked hard to keep the family together. Mary’s interest growing up included swimming and participation in Girl Scouts. As a teenager, she held jobs in a bakery, in a library, as a lifeguard, and at a Howard Johnson restaurant. Even with all these activities, school always remained Mary’s chief focus. After high school, she attended Wells College, a small all girls’ school in New York, where she earned a B. A. in Biology and Psychology. She graduated magna cum laude and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Before continuing her education, she took a year off and worked in a cellular biology research laboratory at University of Texas Southwest Medical Center. After this, she attended the University of Colorado Boulder where she earned a PhD. in Molecular Biology. Her education then continued at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill where she was a postdoctoral fellow in Anatomy and Cell Biology.

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